Dallas Centre Hardware Will Close

Second generation owner Michele Geise said they hoped to be able to restructure into a plumbing and heating supply company, but that didn’t work out.

“Financially, at this point, it’s just not feasible,” Geise said.

Geise said the roundabout construction near their store at 44 Main St. led to a drop off in business and crushed them financially. The roundabout project started with utility work nearly two years ago.

“The construction absolutely destroyed us,” she said.

The roundabout opened in October after the project caused congestion as crews tore up parts of Route 415. During construction, traffic was down to a single lane at times that slowed traffic.

“It just got worse and worse,” Geise said. “People got so frustrated trying to deal with it and we could not recover. It costs the same to open the doors whether or not people were coming in and we got into financial trouble that we could not recover from.”

Geise also cited bad weather over the last year as well as more people shopping online and at big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s as other factors that led to the store’s downfall.

She said the customer service at Dallas Centre Hardware has separated them from the chains.

“We tried very hard to keep prices competitive but we hung our hat on customer service and taking care of our customers,” she said.

A liquidation sale will be held at the store until everything is gone.

The store will remain open from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and everything is marked 50 percent off.

It will close between Christmas and New Year’s Day and reopen Jan. 2 and stay open until everything is sold.